Early lease termination with notice

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roachnelson

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I am a month into a year lease in a 2 bed apartment. I cosigned the lease with my freind of many years now. I have a job opportunity elsewhere and would like to get out of the lease. I have given my 30 day notice and paid rent for next month and offered to forfiet the deposit. My roommate wishes to stay and has moved her boyfreind in with her without permission from the landlord. Niether of them have good enough credit to rent the apartment. I have another renter lined up even if he has to kick them out. I have done everything possible to work with the landlord but he is saying that i cannot get out of the lease and he doesn't want to just evict them either. I am moving in 2 weeks and need this matter resolved. Does he have any legal recourse against me? Or would my case hold up pretty well in court? I don't want my credit to be affected by this or have to pay the rest of the lease when i have other renters lined up for him that have good credit.
 
Unfortunately your landlord doesn't have to accept either the boyfriend or the other renter you have lined up to take your place.

On the other hand, he can't simply sit back and expect you to be responsible for the rent for the next 11 months of your year lease. He has an obligation to make the attempt to find another tenant to take over your part of the rent. As a very general rule the courts give a landlord two months to replace a renter. However, if he can prove that the market is slow in your part of the country this time may extend longer than two months.

Until then you would be responsible for your share of the rent; if you do not pay this he can taking you to court and sue you for this owed rent. A judgement against you would hurt your credit.

Gail
 
thank you for your quick reply.

So basically giving a 30 day notice does nothing and it is all up to the landlord and what sort of person he is. Even when you have done everything you should and are willing for forfiet your deposit and help find a good renter legally there is nothing you can do. The area is very populated and rentals are hard to find and are always full so there won't be a loss of income on his part even if he doesn't want to except my alternative renter.

I guess i find it hard to beleive that a person has no control or recourse on a matter like this if they have to relocate.
 
Unfortunately giving a 30 day notice does not negate the fact that a tenant broke a lease (this is why month to month leases are become more popular since in most states a 30 day notice is all that is needed to terminated the tenancy).

It's also important to realize that, technically, a deposit is no longer your money; the landlord can use it to pay for damages above that of normal wear and tear, for owed rent, for the cost of advertising to rerent the unit, etc..

Why does your landlord refuse to accept the tenant that is willing to take over your lease? I can understand his/her refusal to accept the boyfriend who has poor credit.

Gail
 
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